Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I have a recipe for you all, but first we need to do some TV talk. I am a HUGE television fan. While I obviously looked forward to the usual premieres, I was really excited about the flight of new shows that were airing across the networks. Here's a little round-up of my favorites.

1. Pan Am

This one is my absolute favorite. I loved all of the old school glamour. I'm a sucker for anything set in the 1960s-the clothes; the charm; the misogyny. All makes for an entertaining hour of television. There also is a fantastic twist that you do not see coming. I won't spoil the storyline for you--but definitely check it out!

2. The Playboy Club

I watched this show for one reason alone: Laura Benanti. For those of you who are not familiar with Laura Benanti, she is a goddess. And a lovely Broadway actress. Another awesome thing about this show? It's all on Hulu. So, no waiting a week for episodes like another network (cough...Fox...cough).

3. The New Girl

I am Jess. Or at least that is what all of my friends have told me. The show is a little clunky at times, but it is just such an undeniably cute show. Jess is charming and you will end up completely rooting for her. The menfolk aren't too bad to look at, either.

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Alright, now that you have all of these fantastic shows to catch up on, you're going to need something to munch on while you watch. How about some cookies? How about some amazing cookies with rich browned butter and smooth chocolate?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, this is the recipe for you. Enjoy!

Beth T's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tbsp unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)

1/2 c white sugar

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/4 c chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Sift or whisk together the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Put 10 tbsp of the butter in a medium skillet set over medium high heat. Allow the butter to melt for 2 minutes and begin to swirl it around the pan, allowing it to brown. Make sure to keep moving the butter. You don't want it to burn! Swirl for another 3 minutes until the butter is brown and smells nutty. Remove the pan from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Add the remaining 4 tbsp of cold butter and stir until melted.

Add the white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt to the butter and whisk the ingredients together. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk again until mixture is smooth. Allow the batter to rest for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds more. If your arm is hurting, you're doing it right!

Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Gently stir in chocolate chips.

Form each cookie with roughly 3 tbsp of dough. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake one tray at a time, 10 to 14 minutes. Rotate baking sheet after 5 minutes and check the cookies at 10. The cookies should be golden brown at the edges but still puffy in the middle.

Allow to cool on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then enjoy--preferably with your favorite tv show!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I am a champion talker. Some people brag about being able to type 100 words a minute. I can speak 100while relaying a bunch of really useless information.

I have a knack for it, the pointless story. I love telling them. Whether my friends love listening to them is still up for grabs but I like to think they at least admire my stamina.

Despite my chatty nature, though, I am awful at small talk. Like, I am really awful. I'm listen-in-and-wince awful. I never know what to say and when the awkward silence settles I panic and say the first thing that comes to my mind.

It is usually embarrassing. Nonsensical. And just prolongs the awkward silence, thus making me say more embarrassing and nonsensical things. Vicious, awkward circle. I'm a bit better if I'm anywhere near food because all I do is stuff my mouth and nod now and then. Problem solved!

Tuscan Zucchini with Onions

2 zucchini

1 onion

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop the zucchini and onion and spread on the baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle on the different seasonings. Toss. Roast the vegetables for 15 minutes, until the veggies are tender.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Usually I'm pretty immune to caffeine. It doesn't give me heartburn or stomach aches. I can drink it before going to bed and have zero problem getting to sleep. I drink it more out of habit than anything else. And I kinda like it.

Yesterday, though, I felt high as a kite. Sitting in class from 4 to 9 o'clock (see why I needed five cups??) I was literally shaking. Today I will cut back.

Only four cups.

You know what goes great with coffee? These cookies. In fact, these cookies go well with just about anything. Lunch. Dinner. Wine and Gilmore Girls. They have become my favorite cookie and I hope they will become yours, too!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

6 tbsp creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup white chocolate morsels/chunks

1/2 cup peanut butter morsels

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt the butter and peanut butter, let cool. Mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and set aside. Combine the melted butters and sugars. Next, add the vanilla and eggs. Mix in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom. Fold in the white chocolate and peanut butter morsels.

Scoop the dough onto a prepared baking sheet (about golf ball sized scoops) and bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges have browned, but the center should still be puffy. They don't look 100% done when they are finished baking-that's fine. Take them out anyway. And then try not to eat them all in one afternoon.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

I recently started an internship at a local Public Relations agency. First off, I absolutely love it. Every day I feel like I'm at The Office. I nearly expect to run into Michael Scott on my way to the bathroom. Find Jim Halpern at my desk. (I wish.)

The office is one El stop away from my apartment, so in the mornings I just hop on the El and make the short walk over. On the way back, though, I have more time and usually walk the entire way back to my apartment. While walking back yesterday, I encountered one of my biggest pet peeves.

Window shoppers.

Window shoppers are those people who sstrrollll down the street with absolutely zero regard for everyone else around them. This always baffles me because my office is not in a touristy area. It's in the Loop, where people are supposed to be all business. They are supposed to walk fast and with purpose. Or at least that's how I think they should walk.

Clearly I should move to New York. I bet they have fast walkers there.

On a completely unrelated note, I made these pizzettes a few weeks ago and they were pretty fantastic. They were made for the infamous housewarming party and were a hit! If you make these, look over the recipe a few times before going to the store. This will hopefully keep you from buying the wrong type of pizza dough like me.

Gorgonzola and Cherry Tomato Pizzettes

Ingredients:

1 package pizza dough

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

5 oz gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup basil, packed (chopped)

salt/pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch. Using a round cookie cutter (or the mouth of a cup) slice the dough into circles. Place on a greased cookie sheet and press the cheese into the surface gently.

Add the tomatoes.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the bottom is golden. The cheese melt a bit into the crust-that's okay!

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh basil. Add salt/pepper. Serve!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Ladies and gents I have hit a rut. A workout rut that is. Sorority recruitment prevented me from working out for a week plus a bad knee injury has given me a grand total of two weeks off from working out.

Two weeks away from my beloved running shoes, my beloved Nike workout shorts and oddly enough, the beloved treadmill. The treadmill had become my best friend when I was training for my half marathon especially during those hot, unbearable summer days.

Speaking of which...not running for two weeks has severely killed my training plan. Here's hoping that my knee will hold up throughout the training and that my physical therapist can actually determine what is specifically wrong with my knee. *Insert crossing of fingers here*

But here is my problem. How do I get back into the swing of things?

What workout mantras do you use? What songs get you charged up? How do I get my workout mojo back?

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

I don't believe people when they say they just threw a recipe together. Mainly because in my experience, when I just throw stuff together from my refrigerator the end result is often mediocre, strange, or downright horrific. The last two paired up on a homemade pad thai I attempted to make a few weeks back using the odds and ends in my pantry. It was oh-so-very-awful. I finished it because I would rather have bamboo shoots under my nails than waste food, but it took some effort.

With this said, I really did just throw together this recipe.

I know, you're thinking I'm a hypocrite. I'm not going to correct you. I'm the person who judges people wearing leggings for pants and then does the same thing the next day. But this recipe really is phenomenal. And it doesn't involve leggings.

It came from my very un-Italian aversion to tomatoes. I bought a pint of cherry tomatoes for a different recipe and only ended up using about 1/2 a cup. As mentioned before, I hate wasting food (bamboo shoots, remember?) so I did everything I could think of to use up these tomatoes.

Tossed in salads.

(Ew.)

Roasted with olive oil.

(Still ew.)

Pureed with roasted eggplant.

(Hold on. Not half bad.)

I don't think you can really call this a caponata; but it has already been established that I am a bad Italian so I am going to use the word anyway. If you like tomatoes, use less eggplant. If you're like me and despise the round fiends, liberally add the eggplant.

Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato Caponata

Ingredients:

1 cup roasted tomatoes

1 1/2 cups roasted eggplant

salt/pepper

3/4 cup pasta

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Spread the tomatoes and eggplant onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for roughly 2o minutes, until the eggplant is tender and the tomatoes have softened. Set aside.

Boil the pasta according to instructions.

In the bowl of a food processor, puree the tomatoes and eggplant until a chunky sauce forms. Don't over combine, you want to have those chunks. Pour over the pasta and mix.

** If you are making this straight from the fridge (like me!) follow the pureeing instructions and then pour onto a heated skillet. Let the caponata heat and then add the pasta. Cover the skillet and let heat for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

When I like something I really commit. I wear shoes until they are literally falling apart. I had a pair of wedges from Charlotte Russe that I refused to part with until the strap snapped on my way to Bed Bath & Beyond. That also happened to be a weekend I spent in my new apartment where I accidentally only brought that one pair of shoes. Oops.

Growing up, every time I watched a TV show, I became convinced that my career path lied in whatever vein the show followed. Grey's Anatomy? Clearly, I am meant to be a doctor. Alias? Clearly, I am meant to be a secret agent. 30 Rock? Clearly, I am meant to be Tina Fey.

Actually, I still sort of think that last one.

I'm no different in committing with food. When I like something, well, I really like it. I'm the person who orders the same exact thing at a restaurant time and time again. I also am the person who goes to Disney World and refuses to eat anything other than chicken strips. I'd like to say that I was a young whipper snapper at the time but I was sixteen.

I have eaten this salad four times in the past week. It's inspired by my favorite salad at a local shoppe by me called Goddess and Grocer, which also has the best gourmet cheese selection that I have ever seen. There is usually ten minutes of me staring at the cheese before I even order. Every time I go there I choose between two menu options. Buffalo chicken wrap if my fat pants are on. This salad if not.

While this is not exactly like my beloved salad, it is close enough that I have chosen it over nearly every other food this week. You may be tempted to skip the roasting of the broccoli here, but don't. It really adds another dimension of flavor.

Goddess Salad

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce

Marinated Tofu (tofu and soy sauce)

Roasted Broccoli

Peas

Shredded carrot

Goddess salad dressing

Directions:

For marinated tofu:

Press tofu and drain excess liquid. Slice into small rectangles, placing them in a bowl. Pour soy sauce over tofu and let marinate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 400. Place tofu on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the tofu over and cook for another five minutes.

For roasted broccoli:

Meanwhile, prepare your broccoli. Place the broccoli on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over it. Measure out one teaspoon of sugar and sprinkle over the broccoli. Place in the oven (after the tofu is out) and bake for fifteen minutes.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

This is what happens when you sit on the pint of blueberries chilling on your couch from breakfast. I am sparing you a picture of the other region those blueberries touched. Yes, I have a kitchen table. I just like balancing plates on my knees. And smooshing three dollars worth of blueberries with my bottom.